Agony of Hearts
by WhiteDarkness105
Summary: It's Kingdom Hearts all over again, but this time with a new character...
1. Unintentional Sacrifice

Disclaimer: No, I do not own Kingdom Hearts... If I did, I would have my own Keyblade and go around hurting people.. Or something. Anyways...

* * *

Agony of Hearts

Chapter 1 - Unintentional Sacrifice

Why did it have to happen? What went wrong? I was doing so well... and then a curtain came crashing down, and I was gone, lost in the abyss of darkness with no hope of ever escaping. You're probably wondering what in the wonderful world of heck I'm talking about... I guess I'd better start from the beginning, then.

Before

As the island got nearer, I grew more excited. I rowed my boat faster, eager to reach it at last. Looking around at the deep blue sea, I sighed happily. Finally, I was free to do whatever I wanted, with no one to stop me. No one would tell me what to do anymore. Even so... I slowed, frowning slightly, wondering where I would be now if I hadn't done what I did. Probably still stuck at home, having to deal with their moaning and bickering at me to do this, do that, and repeat. No. My expression hardened. They had deserved what they got. And now I was finally FREE! But still... No! I shoved the thoughts of the past to the back of my mind and once again began to row to the island. I wasn't exactly sure where I was, but I knew for a fact that these were the Destiny Islands.

It was beautiful. That was the only thing I could think when I reached the island. As I was docking the boat, I heard loud voices approaching. Looking around rather uneasily, I finished tying the boat to the dock and climbed up the ladder to the wooden docks overhead.

I stood on top of the docks and looked around for where the voices were coming from. I suddenly and completely forgot what I was doing in about two seconds flat as I gaped at the ocean, marveling at the beauty of it. I heard a laugh behind me and whipped around to see six people staring at me. There were four boys and two girls. I stared at them, and they stared back for a while, then I finally came back to my sense and looked at each of them one by one. The first girl had brown hair and green eyes, and the other girl had red hair and blue eyes. The brown haired one looked kinda dopey to me, while the other one was eyeing me with curiosity.

Next, I looked to the four boys. One had orange hair in a blue bandana and brown eyes and was carrying some sort of blue ball, the next had brown hair and blue eyes and HUGE yellow shoes (which caused me to look at him like he was insane), the next had blonde hair and green eyes, and the last one had silver hair and aqua eyes. He just looked bored. I glared at him for what must have looked like no reason to the others, but I knew why. I hated being ignored.

Rolling my gray eyes, I looked past them at the rest of the island, familiarizing myself with it, waiting for someone to break the silence. I could swear I heard crickets chirping, but it must have been my imagination. Finally the red haired girl said, "Hi." My gaze shifted to her and I spoke softly, "Hi." "I'm Kairi," she said nicely, "Who are you?" "I'm Rhia...," I answered, looking at her with emotionless eyes. "Cool," Kairi replied, smiling. A moment passed of more silence, then Kairi nudged the boy and girl closest to her, urging them to talk to me. The guy with the ball finally spoke with an obvious accent, "Hey. I'm Wakka." "And I'm Selphie," said the brown haired girl. I nodded at them, then looked to the remaining guys that had not yet spoken.

The one with the HUGE yellow shoes stuck his hand out at me. "I'm Sora." I eyed his hand warily for a moment, then hesitantly shook it. "And I'M Tidus!" the littlest boy shouted loudly. Startled, I let go of Sora's hand, and blinked at the little guy who had yelled. "That's, ah... nice..." The silver haired guy snorted, causing me to raise an eyebrow at him. He finally looked at me with a faintly amused expression, his aqua eyes meeting with my own gray ones, and he thrust out his hand. "Riku." I grabbed his hand with absolutely no hesitation whatsoever, and we shook hands, our grips equally strong.

Obviously bored with me (that was very mean of them, now that I think about it), Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus all ran off at nearly the same time. Selphie sat on the end of the dock, ignoring us, Wakka, started chucking his ball into the air and catching it again near the water, and Tidus went to the little island connected to the main one with a wooden bridge and started battling imaginary enemies with his sword. Gratefully, I looked at the remaining three, thankful that they hadn't deserted me...yet.

Sighing, I sat on a random crate and looked from Riku, to Kairi, to Sora, and then at a tree. Breaking the silence, Riku asked, "So, where are you from?" I paused, hesitating, then answered evasively, "Somewhere." Immediately, Sora piped up, "Another world?" Smiling slightly, I replied, "You could call it that." a moment later, the smile turned to a grimace as I remembered... Taking no notice, Sora asked excitedly, "What's it like?" I looked at him coldly. "That's my business. He blinked, obviously rather startled at my behavior. "Oh... ok."

"Anyway... I've come a very long way, and I'm going to stay here, at this island. Anyone have a problem with that?" Kairi beamed brightly, clapping her hands a few times. "Great! You can stay at my house!" "No thanks...," I answered quickly, "I prefer being outside to inside." "Oh... well... ok," Kairi said, looking a bit disappointed. "Where are your folks, anyway?" Riku cut in. I frowned. "They're dead." "Ah...," he answered, "How?" I looked away, a gesture that probably seemed like grief to them, but it was actually so they wouldn't see my smirk. "I don't want to talk about it..." He nodded, then looked away too.

I glanced at them again, the smirk now gone. My eyes met Sora's, and I found that he had been staring at me with an unreadable expression, as if he had seen me before but couldn't quite place where or how. I tilted my head questioningly at him, but he just shook his head and looked away. 'Huh...,' I thought, 'Weird. Oh well.' Directing their attention back to me, I said, "I'm gonna go look around... Find a place to sleep. See you guys later." and walked off without giving them a chance to answer.

One week before

Sora opened his eyes to discover that he was under the water, sinking slowly. 'Huh...? What's going on?' he thought a bit hazily, closing his eyes again. He opened them suddenly, on land again, and saw Riku standing in the surf. Grinning, he started towards his best friend, then stopped, seeing water retreating from the beach. He looked up in panic to see Riku holding his hand out to him, the wave steadily building. With a silent gasp, Sora ran towards Riku, reaching out, the wave crashing over both of them. Sora tried desperately to grab Riku's hand but was blown back by the current. Surfacing, Sora frantically scanned the water for a moment, then gave up, seeing Kairi standing there waving at him from the beach. He grinned happily and started toward her, but stopped, a look of confusion on his face. Another girl was standing adjacent to Kairi, her gray eyes cold. She stood there for a moment, silver and black hair fluttering with the breeze, then disappeared as quickly as she had appeared. It all happened in less than two seconds. Sora waded through the surf to Kairi and bent over, breathing hard, and looked around, trying to spot the other girl, with no luck. Glancing up at Kairi, he began to say something, but fell silent as he saw her look at something in the sky behind him. Following her gaze, he turned around and looked at the sky, seeing stars falling and... 'What is that?' he thought. Looking closer, he realized that he himself was falling from the sky. A moment later, he fell backwards, somehow into the sky and plummeted. He tilted his head and saw Kairi calling his name reaching for him. He lifted a hand slightly, then stopped as Kairi disappeared in a ripple. He fell into the water of the ocean and landed feet-first on the bottom, stood, and stood, looking around warily.

Doves flew all around him from under his feet and all over the ground, causing him to step back in shock. Taking a few steps forward, the glass shattered under him. He fell for a moment then landed on a platform with a door on it. He eyed it with wonder for a few seconds, then opened it, light shining through. The door vanished and the platform was being overrun by darkness. He sank into the purplish-black substance, a look of panic on his face, flailing madly. Looking up, he saw the same silver and black haired girl that was on the beach standing above him, holding a black and red sword-like thing with a half-heart shape cut into the bottom part of the black blade. She stood there, grasping the red handle and looking at him with a sad look mixed with an icy one. She vanished from sight as darkness covered Sora's face. A moment later, he appeared on another platform. Three objects were hovering above three stone platforms, a sword, a shield, and a staff. He went straight to the sword and grasped the handle, causing the platforms to crumble slightly and sink into the platform. Stained glass stairs appeared, leading to another platform above. He ran up them and to the other platform. Light was shining strongly from nowhere and his shadow stretched out behind him and rose up, becoming a huge black THING that looked about ready to squish him like a bug. Terrified, he ran, heedless of where he was going until the edge of the platform appeared, making him stop. Braking, he faced the monster as the sword appeared in his hand. (long story short, he battled it, won, and woke up on the beach of the island)

Three days after Rhia arrived

I stretched, yawning, and stood, walking out of the place I now called home: under a large tree. Blinking in the sunlight, I glanced around, guessing it was about ten in the morning. The others should be there by now. Spotting Riku, I grinned and trotted towards him, slowing as I got near. Over the days, I had become fast friends with Sora, Riku, and Kairi. It was what I considered a new record for me. I sidled quietly up behind him, then grabbed his shoulders and yelled, "BOO!" (I swear he jumped at least a foot in the air) He turned to stare bug-eyed at me. "Don't EVER do that again. You scared me to death!" I smirked, laughing evilly.

Bouts of laughter erupted from behind us and we turned around, Riku looking rather calm now and me still smirking smugly. Sora and Kairi walked up to us quickly, still laughing. "You two put her up to this, didn't you!" Riku said haughtily. Not giving them a chance to answer, I said, "Nah, they didn't.. It was all me." At this, Sora and Kairi burst into laughter again. I silenced them with a look. "You guys better watch your backs, too... It might be you next time." A moment of silence followed the threat, then Kairi said excitedly, "We should make a raft! You could go to other worlds!" I raised an eyebrow at her. "What would be the point of that?" Sora answered for her, "We've always wanted to see other worlds, ever since Kairi came here!" "And this is our chance," Riku finished for him. "Ah," I answered.

So, we made the raft and gathered food the next two days. I soon learned that Sora and Riku, though best friends, would compete with each other over anything. Riku had thought up a name for the raft, Sora disagreed, and the race was on. Me, being the competitive person that I was, raced against both of them at the same time, and, of course, won. (I'm just special that way)

I soon appointed the raft to be "Saborwind," smirking at the two disgruntled boys. Kairi wouldn't have had a problem either way and just looked amused at our antics.

Night fell and they all went back to their homes while I went back to my tree. Laying down on the ground, I sighed, deep in thought. I closed my eyes for a second, but I guess I fell asleep. The next thing I knew, wind was blowing hard, and the tree branches were whipping every which way. I jumped up, immediately wanting to see what was going on, and walked into the open. I froze, staring awestruck at the glowing thing in the sky. Out of nowhere, black bug-like things with glowing yellow eyes and a symbol of a crossed-out heart on them appeared and surrounded me. I looked around desperately for an escape route, but found none. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Riku and Sora standing on the connecting island, darkness overtaking them both. My distractions was just what the creatures needed, and they all attacked me at once, dragging me to the ground. A pool of darkness appeared under me, and before it totally covered me, I could swear that I saw a tiny shard of something pinkish red and glowing fly away from my body. Then I lost consciousness.

I woke up to Sora shaking me, calling frantically, "Rhia! Rhia, wake up!" I blinked my eyes open to see a worried and scared Sora. I groaned loudly and sat up. I stopped, feeling my hand wrapped around something cool and somewhat heavy and looked down to see a red and black sword thing with a half heart shape cut into it. "Ooooo," I breathed, eyeing it. Sora stood up, looking at me with that same unreadable expression that he had had on the first day. I jumped up, staring at him with a worried look. "What's wrong?" He answered slowly in a dazed fashion, "You're that girl in my dream..." and went on to tell me about the dreams he had been having before I arrived.

When he finished, I raised a brow. "Interesting... and weird...," I murmured to myself. "I know," He replied, though I wasn't exactly talking to him. He seemed to have lost his dazedness, too (thank Bob). Shaking my head, I asked, "Where're Riku and Kairi?" His gaze fell. "I dunno... They're gone." "Crap." I held up my weapon and gazed at the cut-off part. "You know... I think things are about to get much weirder." I snapped out of my reverie as the bug-like things appeared again and surrounded us, twitching like crazy things. I grinned rather savagely, readying my weapon as a silver and gold key-like weapon appeared in Sora's hands. I raised BOTH eyebrows at him this time. "You have one too, eh?" He nodded and went into a defensive crouch, not bothering to answer. I lunged at the nearest bug thing violently, swung my blade, and destroyed it in a poof of oily purple and black smoke. I blinked, pausing momentarily, obviously thinking, 'Ooooookkkkkk... DIE!' Sora andmy eyes met, our heads nodded simultaneously, and we lunged forward, vanquishing the evil little black things.

Grinning, I yelled to Sora, "Sure is easy to destroy these, isn't it?" He yelled back, "Yep!" Only one now remained and I jumped at it, swinging my blade maniacally as it started to disappear. I hit its torso, causing it to vanish in a poof of smoke. At the same time, the pinkish red shard flew away from it and towards me, disappearing into my chest. I perked up immediately, feeling my missing strength return (I hadn't even noticed it was gone, I was so intent on wreaking havoc and stuff, hah). "Muahahahaa!" I laughed insanely, bright twin flames seeming to burn in my gray eyes. "Kill them all!" Sora chuckled a little uneasily, eyeing me carefully.

I yelped in surprise as the island started to break apart, leaving us to stand on a small circle of it. A huge black thing rose up. Sora was gawking at it like a fool (the rolling of the eyes begins). "Oh dear..," I groaned. "That's that thing in my dreams!" Sora nearly shouted, struggling to be heard over the howling wind. I stared at the huge black thing with fascination for a moment, then made up my mind and jumped at it, swinging my blade at one of its hands. Sora finally joined me, cutting away at its other hand. I gasped, seeing the hand I was attacking raise up and swing at Sora. "SORA! Move!" I closed my eyes unwillingly as the green gem on my right wrist began to glow with a somewhat dull green light. The wind blew all around me, my hair fluttering madly. The gem flashed brightly, and I opened my eyes just in time to glance over my shoulder to see the hand coming at me with incredible speed and Sora staring at me, wide-eyed from where I had been standing a moment later. Time seemed to freeze for a moment as I stood there, hair flying everywhere, gazing at Sora with a both sad and cold expression. My lips suddenly moved, forming the silent words "Caluht lryhla." Then everything sped up once more and the hand hit me in the right side of my back. I flew a few yards away and lost consciousness as I hit the ground, falling into darkness.

* * *

Excellent... And if anyone wants to guess what "Caluht Iryhla" means, then message me with what you think it is, and if you get it right, I will give you... er... A picture of your favorite character! Yes. Oh, and if you want to see a picture of Rhia, again, message me and I'll send it to you. Sayonara, folks.


	2. Dark Infection

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, I wouldn't be writing about it.

* * *

Chapter 2 - Hades's Infection

I slowly regained consciousness and sat up, peering around hazily. "Woah... Where am I...?" My eyes halted on a brown-robed figure, hood over his face. After a moment, he spoke quietly, "There can only be one Keybearer..." I got to my feet and stared at him in confusion. Blinking, I looked around, more concerned about where I was than what the heck that guy was doing there with me. "Hey...," I said to no one in particular, "Where's my..." I broke off as my red and black weapon appeared in my hand. I smiled. "Cool. Anyway... What are you talking about..?" He stayed silent for a minute or two, then spoke again (finally), "You will fail... You will be lost to the darkness." I stared at him like he was nuts, confused and scared. In an impulsive act of defiance, I burst out angrily, "No. I won't. I won't lose!" We regarded each other for a moment (at least I think we did, I couldn't see his face.), then my eyes closed without warning and I fell back, into darkness.

Then I really woke up. Glancing around, my gaze landed on a short, fat guy with hooves. I just stared at him for a moment, then, "Eh?" The fat satyr turned away from me and called to someone, "Hey! She's awake...finally!" and walked off. Well, more like waddled.

I sat up slowly with a groan, my back cracking loudly and painfully. "Ouchie...," I murmured quietly, trying my best to rub it. "What happened..?" I asked quieter still, thinking back. A memory flashed in my mind. A huge black hand hitting my right side of my back and sending me flying. "Oh," I said dumbly. Blinking, I looked around suspiciously, obviously wondering what the heck was going on and where I was. My gaze stopped on an orange-haired, bulky guy that was approaching me. "Hey," he called, raising a hand in greeting. "Hi...," I answered, trying to stand up and failing miserably, the pain in my side almost too much to bear. The guy frowned at me in concern. "Now, now, don't try to stand up. You're badly hurt." I stopped moving and eyed him. "How bad?" "Well... Umm... You have three broken ribs. I think something hit you on the right side of your back really hard." I grimaced. "No kidding." Changing the subject, the guy introduced himself. "I'm Hercules, but you can call me Herc," he said, then pointed to the satyr. "And that's Phil." I nodded slowly. "I'm Rhia. Nice to meet you... I guess."

Phil called Herc over to the other side of the room to discuss something and Herc walked away, leaving me by myself. A burst of blue fire appeared, making me jump, then vanished as quickly as it had come, leaving a blue guy with black robes standing there, eyeing me like he was a dog and I was a bone or something. I raised an eyebrow at him as he said, "Hey there, how ya doin', kid?" He waited a moment for a response, received none, and went on, "I'm Hades, God of the Underworld. I s'pose you'd like those ribs to be healed, wouldn't 'cha?" I nodded slightly, staring at him, basically struck dumb. He went on, "Well, if I fix them for ya, you're gonna have to do something for me in return." I came back to my senses at that and eyed him suspiciously. "What...?" "You're going to have to fight the boy with the Key.. To the death," he answered, grinning rather sinisterly.

"Hmm..." I smirked slightly, kinda liking the sound of this (violence is fun). "When?" "Soon. I'll let you know," Hades replied, "Now, lemme fix those ribs 'o yours!" He waved a hand around with a dumb little flourish and pointed it at my broken ribs. A purplish black substance vanished from his hand into my side, healing my ribs instantly. My eyes turned a darker gray, almost black, unbeknownst to me. I didn't feel any different, just better and stronger than I had a moment before, which I immediately connected to have been influenced by my broken ribs, now healed.

Hades glanced up at Hercules and Phil, and seeing that they were almost finished with their discussion, and blue flames started to engulf him again. "Remember... This is our secret." I nodded and he vanished.

Hercules came back over and I stood up, relishing the fact that the pain was now gone. Herc blinked at me, startled, then smiled broadly. "Hey, you're all better!" he said happily, obviously taking no notice of my eyes either. "Yep," I answered rather emotionlessly. "Great!" He kept rambling on, "You should go train in the ring! The tournaments are going to start soon and if you want to compete–" I cut him off with, "Good idea. I'll start right now." and walked outside and stepped into the ring.

I trained, ate, and slept for about a week or so, rarely talking to anyone, only speaking when spoken to. Little did I know, the darkness that Hades had used to heal me with had been spreading through my body, infecting me. Finally, after that long week of waiting, the Coliseum opened and the seats filled rapidly with cheering people. I was leaning against a wall when Hades appeared next to me.

I turned my head towards him unflinchingly and he grinned when he saw my eyes. They had darkened all the way to black and were flecked with a continuously shifting yellow, red, green, and purple. Hades announced, "You're up first. Just battle all the way to the top and wait for the kid with the Key to compete. If he's lucky, he won't get all the way up to you. However, we don't want that.. When he does make it up to you... Well, you know." I grinned and he disappeared in a poof of flame, thinking to himself, 'Excellent... Her memories of that brat have been erased, too.' I pushed myself off the wall and headed into the sunlight. The crowd cheered wildly as I walked into the ring. Reaching a hand out in front of me, I closed my eyes and called the same black and red weapon that I had gotten a week ago with my mind. It appeared in my hand with a flash of light, causing the crowd to cheer louder still.

My first enemy appeared in front of me and I attacked, slicing it up rather badly before it disappeared, defeated. I advanced ten more rounds with ease, then was finally at the top, ready to defeat a blonde kid named Cloud. I eyed him disdainfully, obviously unimpressed, and lunged, swinging my weapon at him swiftly. He parried the blow with his odd sword (ick) and leaped backwards. We circled the ring, staring at each other intently, looking for an opening. I forced myself to look relaxed, a ply to draw him in a attack. After a moment, he came at me, ready to slice and dice, a triumphant look on his face, expecting to catch me with my guard down. I ducked his sword and swung mine, landing a fairly decent blow (again, skipping details...)

I smirked triumphantly as Cloud fell heavily, unconscious (I won, if you hadn't guessed that yet). The crowd was still going crazy as I walked out of the ring and back to my shadowed wall. I sighed as I leaned against it, rather bored, and watched the other competitors. Finally, the names Sora, Donald, and Goody were called. An odd looking trio strode into the center of the ring, a brown-haired kid that looked about my age, a duck, and a dog. I stared at the brown-haired one, an emotion that might have been recognition flickering in my eyes for a moment, then vanishing as quickly as it had come and they went black once more. Hades appeared next to me (yes, it was getting rather annoying) and said, pointing, "That's the guy." I blinked. "The duck?" "No!" Hades glared at me, looking irritated. "The one in the middle. Sora." "Ah," I answered, smirking slightly. Hades rolled his eyes, calming himself with an obvious effort. "Ok. Remember... to the death." I nodded stiffly. "Right." With that, Hades disappeared again.

I watched Sora, Donald, and Goofy fight for the next half hour, studying their battle styles and forming strategies on how to defeat them with ease. I grinned savagely as my name was called and pushed off the wall, walking towards the ring. Sora's eyes were rather wide, as if he knew who the name Rhia was appointed to. I stepped into the sunlight slowly, almost majestically, the light slowly creeping up my body and to my face, my silver and black hair gently fluttering with the wind. My black eyes met Sora's blue ones and he stepped back a bit, looking shocked. I entered the ring, head held high, already looking triumphant. Sora stepped towards me, smiling slightly. "Rhia... So this is where you've been." I eyed him emotionlessly, giving no sign that I knew who he was and said nothing. He frowned, glancing back at the duck and the dog for a moment, then turned back to me, puzzled. "Don't you remember me? We used to hang out at the island. With Riku and Kairi. Remember?" The crowd was silent, watching us intently (and probably wondering why the heck we weren't fighting yet). My eyes cleared for a moment, like a fog lifted from them, the shifting colors disappearing. "I...," I said hesitantly, trying to remember. The shifting colors appeared in my eyes again. "I don't." I closed my eyes and reached out a hand, calling my blade to me. It appeared in my hand with a flash and I grinned and crouched, ready to attack.

Sora jumped back, rather startled, and his own weapon appeared in his hand. I eyed it, looking grim. 'So...,' I thought, 'He's a Keybearer.. whatever that means.' I leaped at him, only to be knocked back by Goofy's shield. I glared at the dumb dog, already full of battle rage, and swung my blade as hard as I could at him, knocking him out of the ring. His head hit on the of the pillars on the way out, knocking him out. I grinned savagely. Donald and Sora both rushed at me, looking rather ticked. Donald jumped up and came flying towards me like a maniac, screeching out who-knows-what. I reached up a hand and grabbed his bill, much to his surprised. In one fluid motion, I whirled around, the duck still in tow , and threw him out of the ring. After he hit the ground, I swore I could see little stars circling his head. I laughed silently and turned to see Sora charging at me, weapon raised. I dodged easily as he swung, smirking, and poked the back of his head comically. He teetered for a moment, losing his balance, then recovered, and whipped around glaring daggers at me. He ran at me, swinging his blade like a crazy person, obviously furious. I just kept dodging, toying with him.

Finally, I decided to end it. I swung at Sora quickly, giving no warning at all. He lifted his weapon and parried the blow–but just barely. I backed off a bit, eyeing him for a moment, then lunged again, attacking relentlessly, almost insanely. He blocked all my strikes (amazingly), looking rather desperate, until I knocked him off balance again. Grinning evilly, I raised my blade, ready to finish him off. Meanwhile, Hercules, who had been watching the whole thing with morbid interest, watched me with wide eyes, well aware are what I was going to do. He charged up to the ring, planning to separate us. I paused and snapped my fingers in boredom, causing a shimmering force field to appear, cutting Sora and me off from everyone else. The crowd was silent, their eyes all glued to me.

I narrowed my eyes at Sora and lifted my blade again and swung down towards him swiftly. I stopped as I was suddenly bombarded with memories of the island, the blade hovering inches above his head.

_I was once again sneaking up on Riku, ready to pounce, when he held up a hand and said, "Hello, Rhia." without even turning around. I glared at the back of his head. "How didja know?" I asked. "That's my secret," he replied, turning around. "Anyways... Let's go find Sora and Kairi." "Fine," I answered, turned around, and ran off, planning to beat him there._

_A minute after I left Riku in the dust, I spotted Sora and Kairi on the dock, staring out to the ocean. As I approached, the last words of Kairi's I heard were, "Sora.. Don't ever change." I raised a hand a waves at both of them, calling at the same time, "Hey, yous." They turned around, smiling. "Hey, Rhia," Kairi said happily, "And Riku." I glanced behind me, unsurprised to see Riku. Sora suddenly asked, "Hey, Rhia.. How old are you?" I stared at him. "You've known me for how many days now, and this is the first time it occurred to you to ask me that?" He nodded. I laughed. "Alrighty," I answered, "I'm fifteen." "Huh.. Same as me," Riku said absently. "Yep." I pointed to Sora and Kairi in turn. "Fourteen and fourteen." Sora blinked, "How'd you know?" I smiled secretly. "I have my ways..."_

My blade disappeared and I staggered back from Sora, a look of shock on my face. He jumped up, eying me warily. "Do you remember now?" He asked hopefully. The force field vanished as I nodded. "Yeah... I do... Sora." My eyes cleared, turning back to their normal gray, the continuously shifting lights disappearing (much to Sora's relief, I'm sure). Hercules jogged over, looking worried. "Are you guys ok?" I nodded. "We're fine... but I don't know about Donald and Goofy." I glanced over to where Goofy was sitting, rubbing his head. Donald was still down, stars still circling his head. Sora ran over to them, looking concerned. I turned back to Herc as he said, "What happened to you?" I thought for a moment, then said "Well, I got here with three broken ribs, and someone healed them for me and–" I cut myself off, looking furious, then said, "Hades." "Hades!" Herc exploded, "I shoulda known!" "Anyway, " continued, looking reproachfully at him for interrupting me, "he healed me and at the same time he must've infected me with darkness." Hercules just looked confused (and rather stupid). "Eh?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes. "Never mind..." Under my breath, I whispered, "Oaf." I walked towards Sora and the now standing Donald and Goofy, who were eyeing me with distrust. Sora gestured towards me and said to them, "See? She's one of the ones I told you about. Rhia." I nodded at them coldly. Donald walked up to me, staff raised, and regarded me for a moment, then said, "I don't trust her." I raised an eyebrow as Goofy came up and bumped Donald out of the way. "Huyuck, I dunno, Donald. She looks nice to me." I rose my head a bit and looked at Sora over Goofy's shoulder expectantly. "You can come with us, Rhia," he said, "we're going to find Riku, Kairi, and the King." At my confused look, he said, "I'll explain later." At my nod, Sora smiled. "Alright! Let's go!"

I poked Sora as he was about to run off and said, "One problem... How are we supposed to get out of there?" He grinned. "You'll see." I raised an eyebrow skeptically and shrugged. "Ok then..." Sora turned to Herc and waved at him. "Bye, Herc!" As an afterthought, he added, "And Phil!" With that, we all ran to the door and opened it. I looked around, frowning. "What...?" I stopped in the middle of the question as a big, colorful ship few into sight. I stared at it for a moment, then said blankly, "Ah."


	3. Ominous Foreshadowing

Disclaimer: I. Don't. Own. Kingdom. Hearts.

* * *

Chapter 3 - Ominous Foreshadowing

"So...," I said, eyeing the black and red blade in my hand. "This is a Keyblade, huh?" The girl named Aerith nodded. We were at a place called Traverse Town, where Sora said he had woken up when the island was destroyed. There I had met the "Grand Ninja" Yuffie, Leon, Cid, and Aerith. I was talking to Aerith currently, about the Heartless and Keyblades and miscellaneous junk like that. I had been fascinated to hear all of this (who wouldn't be?) And was now gazing at my Keyblade fondly.

"But it's strange...," Aerith continued. "The legend says there's only one Keyblade Master, and that he's a boy." I blinked, looking interested. "Legend?" "Well, more like two different legends with the same subject. The first states that the Keyblade Master saved the world, and the other says that he wrought chaos and ruin upon it." I frowned, eyeing my Keyblade again. "You have the Dark Keyblade... and Sora wields the Light Keyblade, or the Kingdom Key." My lips twitched slightly in a smile. "That makes sense...," I said absently, eying the black Keyblade. Sighing quietly, I stood, the Dark Keyblade disappearing in a flash of light. "I'm gonna go find Sora, Donald, and Goody. It's probably time to go." With that, I walked out of the room and into the Second District.

I walked for several minutes, not really knowing where I was going until I reached a dead end. Snapping out of it, I looked around and realized I was in an alley. I looked warily about, rather scared but not sure why. Without warning, I collapsed. My eyes went blank, and my mind was gone.

I opened my eyes and looked around anxiously. One look at where I was told me I wasn't in Traverse Town anymore. I committed the sight to memory, taking in every detail of the place. Then, I was gone again, in darkness, seeing things in flashes. Things I soon realized would come in the future. Flash, someone battling a purple-robed beast, flash the Keyblade disappearing from Sora's hands and appearing in the someone's hands, flash, the Keyblade returning to Sora, flash, heavy black chains wrapping themselves around my body in front of...someone (dun dun dun). Flash, the Dark Keyblade falling from my hand to the ground as the life left my eyes... There were no voices, no noises of any kinda at all. Even my blade hitting the floor was silent. Then everything went blank once more and I woke up to someone calling my name.

"Rhia..." The voice was far away, but increasing in volume and intensity rapidly as I slowly returned to my body. "Rhia! Wake up!" Is that...Sora...?" I thought hazily, "Is he calling me back?" Finally, I opened my eyes. The someone who had been calling to me said happily, "She's awake!" My eyes shifted to the person's face and I realized it was Sora. "So...ra...?" I murmured, calling his attention back to me.

He smiled happily when he saw me awake. But that smile soon turned to a frown when he saw my eyes. They were blank, emotionless, cold as a sheet of ice, almost dead. He looked at me with concern, then turned and called, "Hey, Leon... Com look at this. Something's wrong with her eyes." He turned back to me. My blank eyes bored into his blue ones, as if they could see straight into and through his soul. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see goose bumps appear of his skin, like my piercing gaze had instantly make his blood run cold. He looked away with a shiver as Leon came into view.

Leon peered at my eyes with no hesitation at all, and frowned as he asked me, "What happened?" I realized with a jolt that I was lying on my back in the alley and probably had been for quite a while. My eyes finally turned to their normal color as I realized where I was and what was going on. I sat up quickly, gasping at the cold numbness of my body. Sora immediately was by my side, looking concerned. "Don't move." I turned to him, eyes wide. "What's going on? Why am I all numb an' stuff? How come I'm lying in the middle of a weird alleyway? Why-?" Leon cut me off, looking annoyed. "Stop. You're fine." I opened my mouth to protest but shut it again as he gave me a warning glance.

"First we need to know what happened to you," he stated calmly. "I...," I stated, frowning in confusion as I tried to remember. After a moment, I whispered pathetically, "I don't know..." Leon stared at me skeptically. "What do you mean, you don't know?" I transferred my gaze from the ground to his face. "I can't remember." He sighed impatiently and walked away, arms crossed in frustration.

I buried my face in my hands, trying to at least feel something. I realized with satisfaction that the feeling was slowly coming back to my body. I sighed, face still buried in my hands, frantically trying to remember what had happened. But then I paused, remembering the phrase that a friend on mine had once said: "Don't ever try too hard to remember something, or it'll slip away and fade. Just let whatever you forgot come back to you on its own. Then it'll stay instead of falling apart." I took my hands from my face and cleared my throat. Sora turned his attention back to me. I turned to him and said, "Help me up."

He started to say something like, "You should just stay were you are for now," but instead, at my death glare, he said rather meekly, "Okay..." He walked over to me quickly, lest I try to kill him if he was too slow, and put on of my arms over his head and pulled me to my feet. I wobbled slightly and he steadied me hurriedly. As soon as I gained my balance, I motioned for him to let go of me. Hesitating, he paused for a moment, then let go. I stood up straight and grinned. "Alrighty..." I turned and took a step toward the group of people who Sora had been talking to and saw a sulking Leon, happy (as usual..) Aerith, hyper Yuffie, impatient Donald, and goofy, well, Goofy.

They all stopped talking amongst themselves when they saw me standing and gazed at me expectantly, all except for Leon. He just glared. I glared back, then glanced at Sora as he stood beside me. After a moment, Aerith burst out with, "You're ok!" I raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, yeah..." She responded with a soft, happy smile. Shaking my head, I turned back to Sora, and asked quietly, "Where to next?" "I'm not sure.." he answered, crossing his arms over his head in a carefree fashion. "Whatever world we come across, I guess." Donald and Goofy walked up to us, looking ready to go, and Sora grinned for a moment. Then his face fell.

"But... Are you going to be okay RHia?" he asked me with concern. I nodded stiffly. "Of course.. It takes a lot more than that to keep me down. Now let's go! To the Gummi Ship!" I yelled, pointing a finger into the air, and charged off. Laughing, Sora waved goodbye to Aerith, Yuffie, and Leon, and he, Donald, and Goofy ran after me.

Of course, I had no idea whatsoever where the ship was, due to my terrible sense of direction, and stopped in the middle of the Second District, arm still raised, looking around in confusion. As the others got nearer, I yelled to Sora, "Which way!" He laughed loudly and pointed in the direction we were supposed to be going, and I charged ahead again, knowing that this would happen several times.

Eventually, we made it to the Gummi Ship, and climbed aboard, me still ahead of everyone. Grinning, I sat in "my" seat, the copilot's, and hugged it happily. "Did you miss me, Cushy?" Sora stared at me like I was insane (I don't blame him), then took the pilot's seat. Donald stomped all flat-footed an' stuff up to me and barked, "That's my seat!" I blinked down at him innocently. "No it isn't... I claimed it, remember?" I swear I could see puffs of smoke escape his nostrils.

"No, as a matter of fact, I don't!" he snarled, glaring at me. "Well, I do," I answered, "Go find another seat. "Grumbling, he stalked to another seat and plopped down, looking extremely grumpy. I turned and hugged my seat agin. "Don't, Cush! I won't let the mean ol' duck get you!" All the while, I was grinning wickedly at Donald, who just ignored me. Sora laughed, grinning, then turned his attention to the controls.


	4. A Swift Interlude

Hi, all, whoever reads this, which is probably no one,

So, to my great distress, I have stumbled upon this ancient artifact from...who knows how many years previously.

I have found it unfinished.

This saddens me.

But maybe I will continue with it soon enough, although it is a little late.

It's better than leaving it unfinished, right?

However, it will be much shorter than I expected it to be, and I will mostly be bee essing my way through till the end.

So, in conclusion:

x Welcome x

x WhiteDarkness x

x Home x


	5. Lost

I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Duh.

* * *

Chapter 4 – Lost

I must have fallen asleep. As if in a haze, I heard Sora yelling at the top of his lungs to "look out for the trees!" and Donald and Goofy simply howling the same vowel, which happened to be "ah."

A loud scraping noise screeched through my ears, and again I lost consciousness, much to my relief.

When I awoke, I was caught between two branches of a monstrous tree, hanging there only because I couldn't slip past the two obstructions. I moaned as I felt a dull, throbbing ache rip through my head and I reached up to place a hand to my forehead, momentarily forgetting where I was.

The knowledge reentered my thoughts, however, and, moving gingerly, I braced my hands against the rough bark and slowly hauled myself up and on to one of the branches.

Sitting on the limb, now, I glanced down at myself. My nearly unscathed self. It was a miracle I hadn't fallen to my bloody, gruesome death, although I later thought that that might actually have been a kinder fate.

I stuck a hand into my pocket curiously, and came up empty. No potions. Oh well, it's not like I was dying. "Just a little scratched, that's all," I mused to myself reassuringly.

After another moment of remaining motionless, the thoughts of my friends permeated into my brain, and I shakily stood, glancing around. Nothing but leaves and surrounding monster trees.

"Figures we'd land in the middle of a sweltering jungle. This thing's probably a billion miles wide," I murmured aloud, irritated. I shoved my hands roughly into my pockets and glared at the trunk in front of me like it was all its fault.

While I was distracted by thoughts of ways to leave a scar or twelve on the trunk of that tree, the tiniest noise alerted me to the fact that I was not alone. I began to turn around with a hopeful, "Sora?" And then, with a swift blow to the back of my head, I was once again in merciful darkness. I was going to have the worst headache of all time when I woke up.

* * *

I apologize for how short this is. Maybe I'll make the next one longer? We'll have to see. At least I resumed the story, right? Love me.


End file.
